The Art Of Corruption
by facetofacewiththeskies
Summary: Inspired by page 173 in Deathly Hallows. Quite a few OC's to start off with but things get interesting I promise, how could it not with an over educated, home schooled, muggleborn step-daughter of a powerful family, masquerading as a half blood and stirring up trouble in the death eater riddled castle and all the while keeping Draco as a political prisoner in the spare bedroom
1. introduction

**I do not own Harry Potter**

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><p><strong><em>"...What's Voldemort planning for Hogwarts?" she asked Lupin.<em>**

**_"Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard," he replied_**

**- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 173**

**_"...and now I am fighting for my freedom. Think of how many of us are fighting and why. We must win this battle or die. Let the men live as slaves if they want. I will not."_****- Boudicca, as recorded by Dio Cassius**

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><p>Standing in the circular room the bat like man stared straight into her eyes for what felt like an eternity before moving on to the next future student. She slowly released the breath she was holding but did not relax her occulmency shields. Doing so had become almost second nature in six short weeks. They would get through this, she looked sideways at her half-brother to see him fidgeting nervously even though his turn at being scrutinised was long over.<p>

The Headmaster had barely glanced at him and she was grateful for that. Especially considering the roasting she had over for inconsistent and quite frankly dismal grades.

The bastard had even gone so far as to ask her if she could read.

The question was spiteful and intended to hurt but she had simply smiled at the irony that it was her who was first to read the letters sent to her family which pulled her world apart and resulted in her being in this incredibly tense tower room.

Dear Mr and Mrs Brindell,

We are pleased to inform you and your family that there is a significant reform being undertaken by the Ministry of Magic to better the magical community for all Witches and Wizards of Great Britain. We endeavour to make the extended Wizarding Community a pleasant and friendly place for all to live by the strong encouragement of correct mannerisms and etiquette as well as the enactment of more traditional social customs by all members of our community in order to sustain our continued secrecy from the muggle populace in conjunction with the maintenance and in some cases reestablishment of the traditional, more appropriate, lifestyle of our fore bearers.

We at the Ministry, along with the extended Wizarding Community, welcome you and your family back to England to take advantage of these newly re-implemented social customs which are for your comfort and benefit as well as that of future generations.

To make your re-entry and establishment into the local community with ease and comfort and the transition between educational instituitions seamless and without any unnecessary disruption for the children in your family, we ask that you make a timely return home well before 1st September and ensure that you visit the Ministry of Magic as soon as you arrive to receive the assistance of a personal guide who will be ready to answer all of your possible questions and to make any clarifications necessary. Your assigned ministry guide will be at your service to help you navigate the transition period between the discord and questionable values previously rife within our community and the new, more traditional customs which will serve all members of the Wizarding Community better, ensuring a brighter future.

Please find enclosed a copy of the Official Ministry Information Pack to navigate these difficult times along with a copy of the new decrees in place to create a friendlier and more pleasant community for you and your family to live in.

We look forward to seeing you very soon.

Dolores Umbridge

Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic

Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission

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><p>Being 'ordered back home' was the least disturbing thing discovered in the previous weeks. The sudden explosions of violence and malice across the island were worryingly frequent and even the streets of the muggle world were more empty, a vague mimic of the abandoned and dilapidated cobbled streets in the wizarding world.<p>

In a time where people were afraid to show their faces this girl in the circular office had strode along the filthy cobbles of Knockturn Alley in a summer dress and set fire to a tiny pub frequented by dealers of illicit objects and potions ingredients. The owner hadn't paid a debt so the consequences had been dealt out, mafia style.

This girl knew a lot about consequences.

She held lies with great consequences.

The greatest of which could result in the death of her family.

Dear Mr and Mrs Brindell,

Under the new laws enacted to benefit all members of the Wizarding Community there is need for the Ministry Of Magic to confirm the identity of all families and individuals whose residence is within Great Britain.

It appears that under the previously inadequate regime some of your records have been lost or damaged. We are sincerely sorry for this inconvenience, this is yet another reason why this revitalisation of our society is so desperately needed. To complete the update of your family's records we ask you to present for individual interviews to confirm the identity and heritage of each person in your family.

Dates and times for interviews will be organised upon your arrival at the Ministry Of Magic by your assigned ministry guide.

Awaiting your arrival

Dolores Umbridge

Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic

Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission

* * *

><p>Staring at the thick, officially emblazoned parchment the words seemed to swim.<p>

This didn't mean anything.

It's just words and words don't hurt.

But they do.

And this girl is reading them. These words mean that in six weeks she will be standing in a circular office being questioned by her future Headmaster.

She sent a letter to her father and walked through the door to meet the group she belonged to who ran on the wrong side of the law and felt it right.

The sting of the unknown mixed with the surely impending disaster on this bright day at the end of winter was not lost on any of the members gathered at this semi-coastal clearing around which trees and doors abounded. One of those doors, so out of place and unconcealed, expelled another two persons into the area, adding to the noise which filled the clearing like a low growl.

"This is absolute madness!" the exclamation burst from the taller of the new arrivals. His companion purposefully dropped his bundle of papers next to a girl seated on the ground. "With all these new laws it's a wonder they still have ink to write them in."

"Chris! Calm down and we'll work a loophole out of here, alright?" a worried face responded from across the clearing, drawing the attention of others.

"But there is no loophole! No. Way. Out."

Silence.

Dread and fear crept into the faces of the loosely gathered group.

"I can't do everything, can't fix everything, can't magic a solution because you all refuse to change your lives. Hide? No. Run? No. It won't happen, it can't happen, wouldn't work if we tried. We'd be too noticed, too missed. And the void we would leave behind: unimaginable." As the tall man rambled his companion sank to the ground next to his recently discarded bundle, removing himself from the possible firing line of questions and accidentally tipping the pile of papers so they slid across the ground.

"Chris, please." the woman who had previously addressed him interrupted.

She may have said more but it was lost on the girl with the words of her step-fathers letters swimming before her. The only thing to come into focus was the pink pamphlet poking out from the scattered papers.

Pink with orange lettering.

A simpering rose and a fanged green weed.

For her the world stopped. It ended with this.

"Mudbloods and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society"


	2. There's a new world out there

The group swelled and dwindled almost rhythmically as more doors opened and small troops traipsed up the leaf littered path towards the top of the hill. Some doors were sealed back into the undergrowth and others appeared fresh to expel their occupants, each producing a small glow of magic undetectable to the untrained eye.

Stagnant in this small flow of travelers was one girl holding a garish pink pamphlet.

"Allie... Allie..." a hand gently shook her shoulder, "You can't stay here. Come on, let's go." and still she didn't move. Allie seemed so intent upon that bright paper she may have been trying to burn it with her vision alone, though no one could doubt that if she had truly desired for fire to consume the page that it would be long gone already.

"Leon, can you help me with her?" the same voice called to his brother. In response firm hands gripped her upper arms and hauled Allie to her feet.

"C'mon, we're meeting at Gran's to sort all this out." Leon spoke in a hushed tone while marching Allie up the leaf littered path. Her gaze finally broke from the horrid orange lettering proclaiming a "Mudblood relocation program".

"I'm going to have to leave." Allie spoke as if to herself.

"Everything will be fine." Leon offered by way of comfort.

"I'm going to put everyone in danger."

* * *

><p>At the top of the winding path was a house nestled just below the ridge of the steep hill. This house was constructed of glass and polished wood, boasting the most expansive view possible but its present occupants, a number swollen by numerous visitors, had their attention turned inwards to the pressing problem of what to do when a foreign political struggle threatened to suck them into the wake of a campaign for control and oppression.<p>

One might think that the easiest thing to do would be to ignore any contact with the problem and disappear far out of its reach. The more severe problem that these people were facing was the consequence of their optimal and complete disappearance; they would leave a gaping hole in a black market that was ready to swell with vile business. These people ran secret trade routes for information, misinformation, illegal and quite often highly dangerous goods as well as the occasional body, making a quick getaway or otherwise.

They acted as Gate Keepers to hidden links between points in space and collected their toll as they pleased. The true identity of the Gate Keepers was always hidden in the folds of heavy black and red cloaks and layers of obscuring spells, the family was publicly known to be the mediators and debt collectors operating as intermediaries between the Gate Keepers and the general Wizarding populace. Links and jump points that they created, kept and dispersed with magic that went unregulated and labelled as Dark Magic Class 3a.

Without this secret transport the black markets would rapidly revolt from being choked and constricted; the Gate Keepers would be sought after, their public face the first port of call, hunted down as laws slowly loosened for those in the position to do so while other countries closed their boarders to other methods of trade. By removing themselves from this society they placed themselves at risk and the lives of thousands of bystanders at risk. To attempt to remain truly neutral in such a climate is a fools dream; everyone has an agenda even if it's only to their own profit.

"Dad… Dad…" Allie tried to catch the attention of her step-father standing in the hall of the large house. "Dad! I need to leave."

"There are plenty of leaves being tracked inside for you here, Allie. Take your pick, there's hundreds."

"That's not funny Dad. I need to go, I have places I'll be safe and you and Max won't be in danger-

"And I suppose you'll be taking Anastasia with you?" He raised an eyebrow at his adoptive daughter who pressed her lips together at his mention of the muggleborn 6 year old who had come along to the gathering with her magical neighbours. "I didn't think so. If it's not a place you would take her then I doubt it will be safe for you."

"I don't want to put you and Max in danger." She persisted.

"We stick together Honey-Bee, you're not going anywhere." He reverted to her childhood nickname and it seemed to aid in stopping any argument but it could have also been the appearance of Gran and Papa, the elderly couple who called this house home and acted as unofficial patriarch and matriarch of the people gathered in their large open-plan living area.

They seemed to hold court without requiring the attention of subjects, they were family, blood or not it didn't matter to them. Everyone was welcome so this invasion of people and their troubles didn't bother the couple; they were pleased to see all their children and grandchildren, many of whom were unofficially adopted.

"What's this you're wearing?" Papa exclaimed to one of the boys, "Are you some kind of magician?" The boy grinned shyly at Papa's ironic jest and adjusted his bowtie.

"No, Papa, I'm like the Doctor. Bowties are cool."

"My doctor doesn't wear a bowtie, but I might listen to him more if he did and I'd want to borrow his Tardis."

"Papa, joyriding through space and time is illegal you know." The boy responded in mock disapproval.

"And who's going to stop me?" Papa teased excitedly.

* * *

><p>Allie stared out the window as she refilled the kettle again. Things were changing in her perfectly constructed world. She didn't know if she would be allowed to travel unchecked anymore, or have a safe place to return to. She wasn't really Sebastian's daughter, he was only her step-father; did that change things? Max was his son and would come first, surely. The thought of her half-brother Max wrought a line of worry across her forehead; the boy was too much of a smart arse to not get himself into trouble. She didn't want to cause him to become more of a target than he already would be.<p>

"Allie! Watch what you're doing!" A sharp voice broke her from her troubled reverie. She had over flowed the kettle. Quickly turning off the tap and pouring out the excess water she place the electric kettle back on its unplugged holder and snapped her fingers over the top of it.

"We could just heat the water in the cups you know."

"Yes but it's just nice to have a kettle don't you think?" Her pseudo-aunt mused. "Can you imagine coming up with all of these fancy gadgets Gran has? There's so much work in it, all the moving pieces and wires that go together, it seems a waste to throw aside so much thought because magic is simpler."

"It's not really simpler Aunty Jane, it's just more innate." Allie responded while distributing teabags into the mugs which didn't already contain coffee granules.

"Each to their own I suppose."

* * *

><p>Each to their own, indeed. Each family group addressed by letter was to decide if they were to stay or to go; would they disappear to seek safety or would they maintain their position as a way of attaining safety. A complete withdrawal of their entire network would be suspicious and jeopardise the other businesses which were run in both the muggle and magical worlds; a gold dealer, a business consultant and services agency and a shipping company. Everyone had to decide what they wanted to do; each decision affected one another in this closely linked network.<p>

Suspicion be damned, there were far more curious things happening in the world. In their position could they not help others and disappear in a flicker of light as they had always done?

Discussion ran through the afternoon with the number of visitors shrinking periodically. Those who wanted to leave did so and few wished to stay unnecessarily. Slowly the inner workings of businesses and connections changed to ensure that connections between these people currently elusive to the majority of society could not be easily divined by onlookers. A truthful façade had to be created. They required a public image which would not and could not be questioned. There was no room for half-heartedness, it was all or nothing for those who chose to stay exposed to the turmoil and trouble brewing.

Allie was comfortably reclined on the railing of the veranda which was topped with a piece of wood resembling a narrow bar one might order drinks over, leaning against one of the posts connecting the roof to the floor. The sun had started to sink below the tree line creating pinks and greys in the cloudy sky and spraying shots of gold through her blonde hair. It hadn't rained today.

She had requested again that she be allowed to leave. Her father had again denied her, further informing her that she was not allowed to disappear under any circumstances; he had promised her mother that he would always care for her and he couldn't do that if she ran away. Allie had left the conversation at that, not wanting her erratic disappearances to be brought up.

A cold breeze whipped around the steep hill, whirring through the trees and making them appear the same as the ocean in the distance. The nearer ocean, where the land flattened out was marked in squares of different greens, some dotted with cattle and the occasional house or shed. The join between land and sea was visible at small points where the ocean pounded against the rocks, sending white spray into to the air. Between there and Allie's perch a clusters of bright lights shone, indicating small town's linked east and west along the coast by a thin stream of moving lights where the trees thinned. It was beautiful in a quiet way but it felt so far away and isolated.

The glass door between the house and the veranda slid open and shut.

"Aren't you freezing out here?"

"Only a little bit." Allie turned to look at Leon, "I see you're not the only one who thinks bowties are cool."

"Ah, he gets it from me," Leon grinned and adjusted his bowtie in a fashion he supposed would be described as 'jauntily' and flicking his dark brown fringe out of his eyes. "because I'm so good looking."

"You're so full of yourself." Allie turned away from Aunt Jane's son and went back to staring at the darkening scenery. She wasn't really related to them in anyway, they were just family-friends but Aunt Jane was around so often she was like a replacement mother.

"Hey, it's what the ladies like." He quipped.

Silence fell between them.

"I'm going to be going to school and whatnot," Leon tried starting again, "so if you end up there too at least you'll have a friend before you start, you won't be alone because you'll have me." He grinned to emphasise his cheery statement.

"I'll be wherever I'm meant to be. Isn't that the way? 'What will be, will be' and all that." Allie mused in a morbid tone.

"It'll be ok, you just need to lighten up." He leant closer with a reinforced grin, draping his tall form around the veranda post.

"What…" Allie looked at his quizzically, "are you doing?"

"Come on." He grabbed at her hand and pulled.

"What?" She resisted.

"Come on." He tugged harder and succeeded in shifting her from her perch so she then stood on the wooden boards of the veranda. "You need to lighten up." He lifted his arm, offering her to twirl around as if in a dance. "C'mon…" He started to walk around her, still holding her hand and pushing against her other arm to try and turn her.

"I don't want to dance, Leon."

"Well you're no fun. I was only trying to help." He let go of her and turned back to re-enter the house. "Dinner will be ready soon." He said at the last moment before sliding the door shut.

Allie breathed out a heavy sigh and hung herself half over the railing. Staring at her shins she let her mind go blank. Here was a half upside down girl on the upside-down side of the world with a fading bruise on her left shin. There was a leaf stuck to the side of one of her ratty old trainers.

She had a step-father who was as good as any dad, a mother she barely remembered who had died giving birth to her half-brother, whom she loved dearly, when she was three, a muggle grandmother living in an antique miners cottage up the coast, a woman named Jane who was like a surrogate mother and a wildly extended family of relatives and family friends. She wriggled further over the railing so she was bent at the hips, not at the waist and her head was among the daffodils which appreciated the current climate in this part of the world. The blood pounded in her ears, adding to the silence she was trying to create in the thickening darkness and gloom.

"Allie? What are you doing?" A familiar child's voice called to her through the sliding door.

"Everything smells different upside down, did you know that?" She replied with some difficulty

"Really?" came the clearly non-believing response.

"No not really but I thought it might be fun."

"You're weird."

"Come and try it."

"Your face is going red."

Allie wriggled back onto the correct side of the railing and slithered to the ground in a dizzy spell. Max came and sat beside her.

"Are you ok?" He asked her

"Yeah I just made myself dizzy. And you're just as weird as me, we're half the same remember." She grinned at her sibling, who shared the same shaped face and eyes but was a brunette, not blonde like her.

"You got all the crazy half." He teased.

"Well you got all the stupid half."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"You didn't make sense first." She rubbed his chocolate brown hair and when he tried to do the same she wrapped him in a bear hug and didn't let go despite his complaints of being suffocated and covered in girl smell. "Calm down you little monster, I just want to give you a hug." He finally stopped wriggling and returned the hug.

"Are you leaving, Allie?" The question was small as though he was scared of the answer. "Please don't leave."

"I'm not leaving. Don't worry, I won't go anywhere without you." He squeezed her tighter. They sat there together in darkness as the strings of fairy lights decorating the veranda rafters slowly came on. Instead of dark and gloomy the world seemed lighter and more magical.

"You're scarier than anything else out there, so all I need to do is follow you around and I'll be fine." Max grinned at her, awaiting her response to his mock-serious declaration.

"Are you two going to come in and eat?" Aunt Jane called to them. Max's eyes grew wide in fake horror and he started to wail.

"Don't. Leave. Me." He overly dramatically mimed shaking Allie back and forth to punctuate each word.

* * *

><p>Dinner was served on Gran and Papa's extended dining table, the chairs lined it through to the lounge space where the couches were pushed out of the way. Everyone helped themselves to the baked and roasted vegetables and chicken drumsticks which had been expertly prepared under the supervision of Gran and Aunt Jane. Of the 25 or so people around the table only 7 of them were not adults. Only 6 of these children were of an age where attending Hogwarts would be necessary. The remaining adults were the bare bones to operate all business and interest within the soon to be war-time nation, plus Gran, Papa and Aunty Jane.<p>

While the dinner conversation was light it gave way to the details of who would do what and where and how people were expected to behave and the necessary paper work which needed to be obtained. The possibilities for the seamless re-fabrication of questionable heritage. The pro's and con's of allowing the passage of dangerous poisons. The artistry in how one disappears silently.

Aunt Jane would be taking her youngest, bowtie wearing child, the only one present under 11 years, to Spain and setting up a safe house while her husband and two older sons, Chris 24 and Leon almost 17, would set themselves up to siphon information out of Britain to those in the rest of the world considering their stakes in the country whom they deemed it reasonable to tell.

The remaining adults would play their respective roles which they were either already playing or covering a role they were junior to previously to keep the passages of business and trade open where it would benefit any agenda they chose to favour without drawing attention to their self-favouritism.

The Hogwarts bound six children, including Allie, Max and Leon, were to play the perfect pure-blood offspring in a way that favoured themselves most. They were not to try to be the same as the others but to blend in enough that they weren't thought of. For safety the groups of siblings were to start off pretending as though they didn't know each other, which wasn't majorly difficult for the Christophe children as they had never spent a great amount of time with the others.

"It's like a secret undercover mission." Max whispered to Allie. "Pass me the cheese?" Allie complied and the young boy upended the remaining contents of the bowl on to his plate, completely smothering his half eaten potatoes.

"Are you serious?" She snatched the bowl from him. "You're not a spy, so there's no hidden message in the cheese."

"Should we have code names?" Max ingeniously spoke before stuffing his mouth full of potato and cheese.

"No. You're being snobbish you and I'm being snobbish me. That's it, we be all uppity and listen when we are being ignored." Allie poked Max in the ribs causing him to splutter out fragments of food. Lynette Christophe, one of the other children to be attending Hogwarts, threw a disgusted look at Max for his rather artful spraying of half chewed potato. When he could breathe and speak normally again Max looked straight at Allie with a most sober expression and declared:

"That sounds dreadfully dull, my dear."


	3. Time to get educated

Gran and Papa's house seemed to multiply its rooms to accommodate any one who stayed there. There were never too many or too few rooms. Most who had eaten dinner stayed the night; some had to return to their posts as suited businessmen or cloaked travel guides immediately.

Allie woke to sunlight streaming through her window and birds calling loudly. It still hadn't rained despite the expectation. On this unusually warm winters day she wore plain denim jeans and selected a pink t-shirt and yellow cardigan from the pile of clothes that had been delivered to her in the night. Fixing her blonde hair into two braids she decided she must look like one of the most childish 16 year old girls ever. Stepping into the hall way she was met by a mop of messy brown hair.

"Ugh, why do you always look like such a girl?" Max teased.

"I could braid your hair for you it's so long." She replied, "Then we would match, little sister." They bantered back and forth on their way to breakfast, it was almost like a normal morning when Allie was home.

"Good morning Honey-bee, you're not being too hard on him I hope." Her father greeted her with a smile and awkward shuffling as he couldn't decide if he should hug her or not.

"Morning Dad." She stepped around him, heading for the crockery.

"And what about you Max, are you behaving yourself?"

"Of course I am." The boy grinned at his father and gave him a hug.

"Would you like a hot chocolate Max?" Allie asked as she opened a cupboard.

"Good morning Daddy. Good morning Mummy." Lynette appeared in the dining room where her parents were seated.

"Can you make it with marshmallows?" Max asked hopefully.

"Well I'm certainly able to." Allie sent two mugs to the counter where they began filling with chocolate powder swirling into milk.

"But will you? Please, please, please?" He draped himself on the edge of the counter and pouted.

"I might." She retrieved a bag of marshmallows from the top cupboard with a beckoning hand.

"I'll have one as well." Lynette's loud voice carried to the kitchen. "Please, Allie." The girl added with a smile.

A third mug landed a touch too violently next to the two full mugs and began to fill itself.

"Manners, Honey-bee." Her father chastised from over his newspaper.

Allie made a show of placing marshmallows into the two steaming mugs for her brother's exaggerated entertainment; two pink and two white in each. She placed her hand over the top of one of the mugs rocked her hand slightly from side to side and made a buzzing noise for effect, sending the marshmallows in her cup to goo to make alternating pink and white quarters.

"Like a microwave, now you try." She smiled and pushed the second cup towards Max who looked slightly mad with excitement at the prospect. "Imagine vibrations coming out of your hand and shaking thw water molecules at about 2.45 gigahertz"

He placed his hand over the cup and with great concentration made a buzzing noise.

"AHH!" Sparks issued from the mug and Max was suddenly three meters from where he was a second before looking rather frazzled. The marshmallows had melted partially but then caught fire, two of which quickly doused their flames by rolling over and partially sinking in the hot chocolate, a third burnt out after a moment but the fourth sported a fantastically fizzling crown of bluish fire. Allie appeared rather stunned but calmly blew out the remaining flames.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Their father appeared in the kitchen looking worriedly between his two children.

"Don't put metal in the microwave." She offered quietly.

"What's going on over there?" Lynette called out.

"Nothing!" Max yelled, rushing to drop a few marshmallows in the third cup and send it on a wild ride across the vast room before skidding to a halt in front of its recipient.

"Careful! You nearly spilt it on me." Lynette admonished.

"Nearly," Max echoed with a grin. "but not quite." His father rolled his eyes and returned to his newspaper.

* * *

><p>"Alrighty Kiddo's, time for some schooling, so we'll get our wand's out and find something useful to do with a book." Chris smiled widely at the small group and snapped the book he held open shut. "Like a seat for you, short-stuff." He dropped the book on the ground next to a young girl with black curls who promptly pouted and sat down on the offered seat.<p>

The group of 6 teenagers, including the smallest one still pouting on top of a book, lounged in various positions in the clearing-come-backyard, following Chris' lead. Lynette stationed herself beside her little sister and their brother Jake chose a tree stump several meters to the left.

All three siblings were smartly dressed and sported curly black hair which in Lynette's case was dragged out into waves by the weight of its length. Leon and Chris, being brothers, had the same dark brown hair and tall, lean stature wrapped in clothing purposed to show their best features, the goatee on the older brother's face the defining feature of the 7 and a half years that separated them.

Max chose the lay on the ground and roll around in the leaves to make a decision between the better viewing purposes of his front and back while his sister Allie nestled against a tree within kicking distance of his leg. Which she did periodically to annoy him.

These two siblings were the least alike in the appearance which could be explained by their only partially shared parentage, but still they possessed the same blue green eyes, tanned skin and thick hair in a pale and a dark version.

"So what tricks are we going to learn?" Leon tried to smile and hold a serious face at the same time.

"First you're going to learn what you need to learn." Chris responded. "and you'll do it in your own time because we have better things to do here."

"You're actually giving us homework?" Lynette asked. Max groaned and threw leaves in the air.

"It had to happen eventually." Chris responded to Lynette while looking at Max. "So you guys are going to have to read up on this school you will be attending and I'd suggest a few school books as well as some on basic curse and hex work, might as well go with a defense as well, oh and modern history would do you some good too." He paused briefly to allow for questions or complaints, on hearing none but seeing pained faces he continued. "These people you will be associating with will either be scared or dangerous, probably both, so you should keep that in mind and just be careful if you think picking a fight is a good idea." He looked pointedly at Leon and Max, Allie kicked the latter for emphasis. Chris raised an eyebrow at Lynette, "Bitch fights included. Just don't do it, okay?" He glanced at Allie after receiving some kind of non-verbal affirmation from the other girl. Leon smirked at his brother's worry.

"You need to understand how dangerous you could make this situation for yourselves by saying the wrong thing. Sympathy towards muggles won't make you look good to the people who are coming into power. You should try to keep the same neutral position your parents are taking, I know it's not ideal but if you're going to be in it try to know both sides of it. And you little kids," Chris addressed the youngest three, Lynette's siblings and Max. "keep your heads down, you don't need to be a part of any inquisitions or subterfuge."

After an appropriate length of time spent posing pointless questions and half-hearted complaining, Chris gave the order for them to all stand up and produce their wands. All complied surprising quickly for the amount of stalling they had just achieved. After checking each of his unofficial students' basic technique he began running them through what could only be described as a crash course of the first year of the Hogwarts syllabus. The most difficult part was the recollection of incantations and wand movements, in a fix the older 'students' would cast the spell by will and intention but nothing slipped past Chris in their backyard classroom.

In approximately two hours Chris came to the end of some enormous internal list and heaved a sigh.

"That was easier than I expected." He spoke to himself.

"My braaaaaaiiinnnnn…." Max wailed dramatically, at which they were all dismissed for a short break.

* * *

><p>"You do realise where you're sending your children Sebastian?" Aunt Jane spoke harshly to Allie and Max's father.<p>

"I am well aware of where I am sending them, Jane." He responded in a mild tone. "The school is renowned as one of the safest places to be in times of trouble and you never know, Allie might make some friends."

"Sending her to boarding school? Maybe you should have made her attend school more consistently to begin with."

"It was her choice where she went; we agreed she could do whatever she wanted to once she turned 13. I'm not the type of man to break a promise to my child."

"That was a silly promise to make, how do you even know where she goes? And she changes schools so often, always in and out of distance education, public schools, and dropping, switch-swatching messing around and _failing_ courses and subjects at the Institute" Aunty Jane became visibly flustered at the recollection of

The small sound of the front door closing caused Aunt Jane's sudden silence. A small troop traipsed in and spread themselves over various surfaces, mainly chairs but Max chose the mostly empty coffee table and Sarah the youngest girl chose the fluffy rug beside it. Allie summoned a glass of water to her perch by the kitchen counter.

"Allie, some paper work arrived just an hour ago that you might want to look over." Her father spoke to her in a kindly voice which wasn't an unusual tone for him to take with his children.

"What's it about?" She asked as she reached for the proffered bundle.

"I requested copies of the 'remains' of our records from the Ministry of Magic."

"That was fast." She raised an eyebrow questioningly at her father.

"These new laws make it easier to push for _favouritism_." He phrased with some care.

"Clever. So what are we now? Rich, famous, feared and above all foul?" She grinned sardonically.

"It depends on how you look at the first one, the second; I certainly hope not, I hate to paparazzi." He smiled gently and continued. "I can be scary when it's necessary and so can you but not the last one quite yet, I'd like to think there's still some class in our name."

Allie looked over the pages; there were records of her father and brother to completion but only a marriage certificate and registry of adoption for her mother and herself respectively, no birth certificates, no medical records. She sifted through the pages, enrolment forms, immigration forms, even a contract for the acquisition of real estate.

At the very bottom of the pile was her mother's death certificate.

"When Chris is done today I'm going out to see a few friends, ok Dad?" She partially requested permission.

"Which friends are these?" Sebastian pressed his lips together.

"The usual." She downed the last of her glass of water and got up to return to the backyard classroom.

"Stay safe." He called after her.

"I always am." She yelled as she shut the door, neglecting to eat anything.

* * *

><p>Chris was leant against a tree slowly flicking through his book from earlier. Allie positioned herself back into the roots of the tree she had leant against earlier. They sat in silence. Allie closed her eyes and listened to the rustling of birds in the trees and the almost imperceptible sound of pages being turned.<p>

"So do you have a boyfriend?" Chris broke the silence but not his pattern of lifting pages.

"No." Allie snorted and looked away from him.

"Uh-huh" He raised his eyebrows at the book. "So you're in the two thirds who are still virgins at 16?"

"That doesn't seem like a very accurate number."

"Maybe you're just going to a slutty school."

"There are sluts everywhere." She grinned at him. "Some of the sluttiest ones are the virgins."

"Sluts love high school." Chris paused for thought. "So these girls don't count blow jobs as sex?"

"I don't know." She looked away again and they lapsed into silence.

"Everyone loves dick but that doesn't mean you should go for a guy who's a dick. You know what I'm saying?" Chris started their conversation again.

"You know a lot about dicks do you?" Allie teased but didn't look in his direction.

"Of course, but what I'm trying to say is that my brother is a dick who flirts too much with too many girls and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thanks." She smiled softly at him turning her head in his direction.

The others started appearing for the resumption of class. When they were all assembled again Chris began teaching them a variety of defensive and offensive spells from the second, and later third, Hogwarts year level he had cleared them to. This was mainly for the benefit of the youngest two, Max and Sarah, would be beginning their third year on the first of September.

Despite this being below the skill level of the older 'students' they participated without complaint and experimented with extra tricks and amplifications of the spells suggested by Chris and of their own invention. An hour later Chris called the class to an end on account of Max getting on his nerves and a prior engagement to be present for his father's business meeting negotiating a trade partnership.

Where everyone turned back to the house Allie went the opposite direction, down the hill towards the coast.

She was going to see some friends.


	4. Boys that break things

**WARNING: this chapter contains non-consensual sexual activities, threats of violence and other horrible things. DO NOT READ if you have any issues with these things. I honestly don't want to upset or traumatise anyone.**

Allie walked down the same path she had been walked up just yesterday. There were clouds gathering in the sky but it was still yet to rain. When she reached the clearing she paused for a second to centre herself and push her magic out to feel for the small, magical insignia's littering the areas which indicated a door before carefully walking south-west. She soon found the one she was looking for, zeroing in on its small flare. She felt the small scar of magic Papa had left all those years ago when he joined this place to another and requested it open.

On its recognition of her a set of saloon style doors appeared suspended on invisible hinges. It was tastefully aged, the lacquer wearing thin in spots. Allie pushed open one side and stepped through onto a secluded part of the beach.

The sky was beginning to grey with clouds and taking the colour of the ocean with it, the scene would have been bleak had it not been for the sun still warming the sand. She changed the colour of her yellow cardigan to black and darkened the wash of her jeans, her t-shirt became a pale blue and her trainer's, ballet flats. She used her wand so she could be more certain the spells would stick until she chose to remove them neatly and cleanly, she didn't trust her distracted, mildly paranoid mind to complete the task wandlessly.

The lone girl walked to the roadside and stood at a bus stop. She hid her wand in her pocket and waited. She took her hair out of its two plaits and fixed it into a loose bun.

The rattling bus ran through the small coastal town towards the next, slightly larger town up the highway. Allie, one of two passengers, smudged black along her eyelashes and lids. Her pockets contained more than they showed as she hated to carry a bag of any kind with her, few of the kids her age did so because they had nothing to put in such a vessel but school books they rarely read.

The bus took her to the next town and out the other side, further on to Allie's destination. Now one of five passengers she stared out the window and ignored their antics and the disgruntled sighs of the one elderly passenger. At her destination of the single stop in the blink-and-you-missed-it-town she gave the bus driver a tight smile and flat goodbye.

Allie walked to the small shop covered in peeling paint but didn't enter it. Her eyes on her feet she took the laneway down the side of the building, she didn't need to see where she was going, she had been here plenty of times before.

She entered the house unannounced and said a small greeting to the woman in the laundry room who made small talk before bidding her on to her final destination.

The room was dark and smelled of sweat and dirt. Allie softly clicked the door shut behind her and moved around the furniture and mess to the window where she pulled at the curtains to let in some light.

"ARGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? CLOSE THE CURTAINS!" A partially muffled voice yelled from the bed.

"I just wanted to let some light in." She closed the curtains.

"Well, I was trying to sleep." The person in the bed responded hotly.

"It's the afternoon now, you should really be awake." She said softly, picking her way closer to the bed.

"I'm sick."

Allie didn't have a response for this; she stood by the corner of the bed and fiddled with her cardigan, contemplating taking her shoes off. The occupant of the bed rolled over and lifted a corner of the doona cover.

"Come here. I missed you." He used a much sweeter tone and for some reason it worked and Allie complied, removing her shoes and cardigan and crawling onto the dirty sheets. He curled around her and kissed the back of her neck.

"Your hair is pretty." He seemed to go back to sleep for a short while and Allie relaxed more into the mattress and his shirtless torso. He rolled away from her and she let her mind go blank, listening to the activities of the house. No clocks ticked and time became irrelevant as Allie went blank.

He rolled back towards her, almost onto her as she had shifted onto her back in the small bed which he occupied most of. He kissed her and she responded automatically, she opened her mouth and slid her tongue against his. He bit her lip and she gasped at the pain. He sucked at her neck and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her on top of him, she didn't follow him at first but he was insistent so there she sat on top of him, hunched forward so he could continue to lick the inside of her mouth while his hands rubbed over her t-shirt, feeling her chest and sides. It wasn't long before his hips started to buck against hers, she complied with this request almost immediately.

Allie didn't know why she did this. It made her brain shut down, the silence was both suffocating and relieving. She didn't think about anything, she shut it all out. But it was good to be wanted, to be touched, wasn't it?

He pulled her shirt off and sucked and bit at her neck as he pulled at her bra straps. Her bottom lip felt sore, she buried her face in the pillow next to his head. She pressed her chest against his. When he had her bra unclipped he pushed her arms through the straps like undressing an uncooperative child. He pushed against her shoulders to get her to lift herself off him so he could remove the bra from between them. He held a breast in each hand and pinched the nipples, biting and sucking on each in turn with little care for being gentle.

When he reached for the button of her jeans she spoke to him again.

"I have my period remember?"

His brow furrowed across his closed eyes as if in pain. She slid from her perch and lay down again. The only noise was the chatter of the television down the narrow hallway.

"I told you the day before yesterday," she spoke quietly after a time "you still wanted me to come over. Remember?" He seemed to suppress a sigh.

"It's ok." He conceded.

He turned towards her and pulled her to him. She reached out and softly stole kisses from his mouth. The sound of shattering china wasn't acknowledged by either occupant of the dim room. The unintelligible yelling that ensued gave no issue to him but she stilled her movements in distraction and concern.

His hand encircled her wrist. She considered slipping his grasp but it was too late.

He pushed her hand towards his groin. She felt nausea fill her stomach and climb, causing her to pull her hand back.

He didn't loosen his grip. Her emptied mind was filled with fog.

He pressed her hand against himself, semi-hard beneath her fingers. She stilled for long enough for his hand to release her.

She reclaimed her hand and subtly shifted her weight to make repetition more difficult. He sighed and a pained expression settled on his face.

"Just because you can't," He sulked, "doesn't mean I can't have fun."

The fog in her mind thickened, filling her body, making her numb, filling all that blank space.

"That's not fair."

His hand encircled her wrist again. He tugged her with him as he rolled on to his back.

The fog wrapped around her insides and stifled the nausea.

The fog filled her. Even her eyes.

Allie absently picked at the birds nest in the back of her hair as she gazed around for her shirt. She could have simply reached out for its charmed aura but she never exercised this talent here. He was rolled over and drifting back to sleep. She had quickly wiped the watery mess from her fingers but had acquired a foul taste in her mouth long before the climax to his short lived exercise. Her shirt was in the corner by the window.

Fully dressed she considered the round form in the bed.

"Don't fall asleep yet." Allie called in a jovial tone as she crawled across the bedding.

"What is it?" He sighed in irritation. "I'm tired."

"Don't you want to talk to me?" She teased, feeling more like herself.

"Of course I want to talk to you, I'm just tired." He appeared hurt.

"Well…" She paused to adjust herself and judge his mood. "You know how my dad does business stuff in a lot of different places around the country and sometimes overseas, pretty much all over the place."

"Yes. I know. You've told me before, you know that right?" He stared at the roof disinterested in repeated information.

"Yeah." Allie pushed on. "Well, this time he's going away and it could be for a really long time and I have to go with him."

"What? You say he's gone, but then he's not really gone, all the time." He looked at her now. She averted her eyes.

"He's being relocated, this might be forever."

"Then I'll come with you, I need to be away from these people, I'd go crazy without you." He sat up with a look of real concern on his face.

"You can't come with me-

"Do you kids want anything to eat?" The voice of the woman from the laundry room cut through Allie's soft reply.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute!" He yelled at the door the small woman stood on the other side of.

Allie stood up and left the room, clicking the door shut behind her.

The small woman had produced freshly baked packet-mix muffins which Allie's boyfriend's friends were enjoying, lounged around the room. Allie joined them after a detour to the bathroom to wash her hands and straighten out the knot in her hair. One of the boys joked about the best foods coming from boxes and Allie grinned at him. She was soon part of the banter about nothing and video games, which was still not much more than nothing to Allie. For a few minutes there wasn't a trace of fog inside her.

"Mum, I'm moving away with Allie." He announced to the small woman in the adjacent kitchen.

"You're not moving, why would you and Allie do that?" The small woman stood tall and questioned her large son.

"You're moving away Allie?" One of the boys questioned her.

"I have to, my Dad is being moved and me and my brother have to go with him." Yelling issued from kitchen, the door to which was now partially closed.

"That sucks," Said one, staring concernedly at the half open door.

"So why is he going with you?" asked another.

"He can't. My Dad won't allow it but he seems to think otherwise." The yelling reached a peak with a roar and a crash. He reappeared, slamming the door behind him.

He marched over to Allie and wrapped her in a tight embrace; he was sweating and breathing heavily. The fog attempted to reclaim her mind.

"I need to leave now. Where are we going?" He released her and stared earnestly, desperately into her eyes.

She flinched away from his attention.

"You can't come with me." Her voice was even despite the unease she felt inside.

"I have to." He pressed.

"My Dad won't let you; you can't live with me." Allie stared blankly past him, through him. If she was going to survive this, she needed to be carefully calculating and act as though she was as spacey as usual.

"Then I'll move by myself to where you are." He sounded more certain as his breathing slowed to normal. "Where are you going to?"

The faintest line creased between Allie's eyebrows and her lips turned down, looking sad and uncertain her brain cleared of any remaining fog and started to tick over coldly, logically.

"I don't know, Dad doesn't have all the details yet but it's going to be overseas, somewhere in Asia." Allie watched his face wrinkle in thought; slick cold took over her mind; he was going to be difficult about it now.

"That's ridiculous; you can't just be dragged off to somewhere in Asia. He's not even your real father. You don't have to do what he says all the time. You can stay here, I bet it's a lot nicer here and you'll fit in better than with a bunch of Ching-Chongs. I'd go there with you but I know you don't want to stay there forever so isn't it better to just leave-

"I'm not leaving my family." Sharp and cold, Allie directed her eyes to the ground to hide the ice in her gaze.

"We can live together, just us. We can be our own family." He became decidedly more earnest. "None of this bullshit, you make me so happy, please, I need you." He reached out to her but she turned away from him.

"Please, there's nothing I can do." The quiet whisper was heard all around the room in all its strain and hitch. Allie counted the fractions of seconds for predicted response.

"Shit. Mate," on cue one of the other boys spoke up. "don't you think you're being a bit dramatic? She doesn't have a choice." Allie ducked her head and slipped out of the room with an audible sniff. She had maybe ten seconds for him to get over his shock at her refusing his outstretched arms when she exited, plus maybe another twenty from his friends trying to speak reason.

She grabbed her cardigan and shoes, automatically checking she was in possession of all her effects, she made the decision to risk cutting her allotted time short by exiting his room again to reach the door and leave. He might not notice her if she was lucky.

She was not so lucky.

"Where are you going?" He called to her and for a moment her instinct to curse him and run nearly over powered the coldness in her mind. Nausea returned as she fought for control and slowed her steps, tears pricked in her eyes. Tears would work. "Stay, we need to sort this out." His pleading tone bled out any power in the demand.

Allie whirled around to face him, letting sadness well up inside her to put on display.

"You're being horrible." Her voice hitched in the right places and was higher in pitch, her eyes brimming.

This small display of emotional reaction had an intense effect on the round boy. He dropped to his knees in front of her and sobbed. He whispered words about how he was awful at being a boyfriend and that he was trying, he wants to be better, he loves her so much, he feels horrible, she can't leave now.

Guilt clawed its way through her and the tears spilled over her cheeks momentarily. Fog began to eat at the cold in her mind. She couldn't move. The other occupants of the lounge room exited the house silently except for one breathed 'shit'. The world seemed to empty, shrink and still as she stood there. She had hurt him. Now she was unsure what to do.

Allie closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to find her voice.

"You're not going to change anything, there's nothing we can do." She spoke quietly, the tear induced inflections unfortunately adding desperation to her words.

"Run away with me." He stared up at her, pleading, desperate.

"I can't do that." She regained the evenness to her voice. "I need to leave." She moved her feet in small careful steps towards the door, listening and sensing any of his movements.

He dropped his head into his hands and sobbed loudly. Allie took bigger steps to move herself to the door faster. She was almost at the door when she heard him stand, slowly. She was cold again, control saw her footsteps refuse to falter.

"So you only came here for one last fuck?" His voice seemed normal, as if delivering a pleasant greeting.

"Don't say that." Allie replied with pain in her voice, she measured her foot steps and laid her hand on the door handle just as he exploded.

"ONE LAST FUCK!"

Allie turned the handle and pushed the door open.

"YOU CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT CAN YOU!"

She didn't respond as she stepped out the door.

"YOU'RE DISCUSTING!"

She walked away cold, not bothering to shut the door.

"COMING HERE AND NOT EVEN TELLING ME THIS FIRST?"

He raged, clinging to the door frame as she turned at the corner of the house.

"YOU JUST WANT MY DICK!"

He was coming closer. The cold in her mind started to slip away. There was a small woman's whine inside the house, from the kitchen with pain.

"THAT'S ALL I'M WORTH TO YOU, ISN'T IT?"

The cold melted in hot drips down her spine, making a fire in her belly.

"YOU'RE SUCH A SLUT!"

"SHUT UP! You're being stupid! There's nothing you can do about this." Allie rounded on him, her fingers twitched to her pocket hiding her wand.

"You're being unreasonable." He switched tactics. "We can work this out."

"No. There's nothing here, because I'm a _slut_." Allie spat the last word at him, less than one meter away from her.

"I'm sorry I said that, I'm so sorry." He whimpered in echo of the cry audible through the wall of the house, the kitchen. "I just can't lose you. I don't have anyone else."

"_If I'm the only thing you have then you have a very sad life._" The words hissed out of her with venom. Fuelled by fury, magic rushed through and around her. She pointed at him with her wand arm and stared straight into his eyes. He felt her gaze bore through his skull. "_Have a fucking miserable life without me_."


	5. Pizza

**Time passing, stuff needs to happen, soon the fun and games will begin**

* * *

><p>Allie lay floating on her back in the icy ocean, not caring as the retreating tide pulled her slowly further from the shore. The cold seared her skin and mixed with her tears, she wanted the salt water to burn away the grit and filth she imagined was clinging to her skin, in her hair and under her nails.<p>

In some ways she was glad that she would be moving away; there would be nothing the same where she was going.

In some way she wasn't glad at all that she would be moving away; the social boxes she lived in were familiar if uncomfortable, yet well-practiced and habitual.

In some ways she was glad that she would be moving away; she would be able to think again, she would have to think, she could be someone else, she could be her other self.

In many ways Allie felt relief at the release she was feeling. Things were changing and for her, no matter how troubled and dangerous this new country might be, it might be for the temporary better. Soon everything in her life would call for action and she had to fight the stasis within her. She could calculate her position and movements to best convey an appeasing demeanour, but it would not be enough, she would never be enough.

Allie began to swim lazily towards the shore. She needed to learn more. The water rolled into the beginning of a wave under her. She needed to protect her brother. The water swirled more violently around her. She needed to learn how to fight. Another swell of water began to build underneath her. She needed to be unquestionable. She wanted to be unquestionable. She wanted to be important. She needs to be a person of importance. She needs to be overlooked. She wants to be unscrutinised.

The crest of the next wave broke and tumbled towards her, taking her to shore along with a new set of problems which could not be ignored.

* * *

><p>The air was somehow colder than the water when she emerged. Allie let it chill her for a moment as she walk up the beach before drying her skin and transforming her bathers back in to her clothing from the morning. The cold gave her a feeling of reality and the need to move to heat up. She had always been taught the importance of not relying on magic just because it was there. 'There are more wonders in this world than magic alone can create' Gran always said by way of justifying her monstrous collection of muggle kitchen appliances filling hidden cupboards in her house.<p>

Allie walked into the trees, removing the salt residue from her skin, and back through the door to the house on the hill.

She was greeted by Aunt Jane who seemed glad to have her back. Her reasoning soon revealed to be etiquette lessons for Allie, Lynette and her little sister Sarah. To simply sit, speak, stand, walk and dress like a lady was dull to Allie but second nature to Lynette and Sarah. It was when the impromptu lessons turn from etiquette to courting, then to sexual relations that Allie wondered if it was better or worse that Aunt Jane wasn't a blood relation but a family friend. Lynette and Sarah were nearly green with disgust.

* * *

><p>Max skidded down the glossy hallway floor leaving his sister in the foyer of their usual home. As soon as he had found her he had insisted they go there to make pizza and get away from the 'curly haired demons' as he called them.<p>

Allie followed him and soon the kitchen bench was covered in a multitude of cooking ingredients and in the middle was a large pizza being decorated with vegetables, meat, sauces and cheese in a haphazard array of smiley faces, carefully placed designs and random sprinklings of cheese.

"Can we cook it in a real pizza oven this time?" Max asked hopefully.

"That depends on if you can make a real pizza oven." Allie replied.

"But I can't make them in the wall like you do."

"Then you either need to move some furniture or learn some more about non-linear expansion of space."

Max thought for a moment, then turned around and began shoving the dining table across the floor.

"Lazy." Allie said

"Lazy!" She sang out, her voice ringing through the room.

"LAZY!" *SPLAT*

A slice of tomato hit Max in the back of his head. He slowly removed it from his hair while turning to face his sister and current nemesis.

"That was uncalled for!" He declared with a look of horror. Three seconds ticked by with a prefect freeze frame before the slice of tomato came soaring back across the room triggering action from both siblings. Max ran to the bench in desperate need for more ammunition. Allie grabbed a bottle of sauce and raced around to meet him. She was met with a handful of shredded cheese in her hair and half a capsicum bouncing off her head, she retaliated with more tomato in an attempt to gain ground on him but found herself at a disadvantage due to her choice to pick up the sauce bottle.

It was when Max dumped deli meat on to her head that she struck back with the sauce bottle, squirting a large amount straight into his open mouth.

He spluttered and the torrent of food came to an end.

"Gross."

"You're horrible." Max coughed.

"I'm your sister, it's in the job description." Allie flicked her wand and the mess disappeared, they were both clean again the pizza ingredients reordered themselves and began returning to their proper storage locations. "I can teach you how to make a pizza oven in a wall, the easiest way is to write 'pizza oven' on the wall and then say _inflexion dilatation, _but it would really help if you learnt how it all works so you don't have to write or say anything, just think and make it happen."

"We're not all as smart as you."

"We're not all as strange as you."

"The weirdly smart doesn't have a thing on my strangeness."

They sat and ate the pizza at the bench together in silence. Max seemed incredibly happy and hungry as he shovelled the slices into his mouth. When they had eaten their fill Allie Picked up her wand and gestured for Max to follow her into the formal sitting room where they usually held lessons and did other educational things.

"Ok, so I think you need to practice to whole 'microwave' thing." Allie began. "Do you know much about how a muggle microwave works?"

"Not really," Max thought for a second. "It sends out, like waves," He wiggled his hands to demonstrate. "and that makes the food hot."

"Pretty much." Allie agreed, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing for him to join her. "You know that hot things have more energy right, they move around and jiggle and vibrate faster."

"Yeah." Max nodded, he had been taught this part before.

"Well a microwave works by making water molecules vibrate faster, the radio waves are the right wavelength and frequency to make them jump, skip, jiggle, shake and bounce around a whole lot more and a lot faster."

Max pondered this for a moment.

"So it has more energy so it gets hot?" He said uncertainly.

"Yup." Allie waved her hand in the air, conjuring a space-filling model of a water molecule. The odd shaped lump, a little like a wrongly coloured mickey mouse, turned and wobbled slowly in the air. At the wiggle of her fingers a squiggly line appeared and headed for the bobbing diagram, on contact the line was absorbed and the water molecule tumbled around like it had encountered a severe earthquake.

Max stared intently at the conjured demonstration.

"So what's the 2.45 Gigahertz?"

"That's the frequency of the wave, how often the wave is repeated from here to here" She indicated on a new wave on the diagram. "Do you remember this stuff about wavelength and frequency?"

"Yeah, it's just bizarre. So why exactly does metal not go so well in the microwave?"

"Metal is a conductor, it's sort of like how electricity is in waves. I'm a bit sketchy on that part, if you want to know you should ask Chris or Leon. I'm better at other things remember." Allie grinned.

"Yeah like beauty charms and girly stuff." Max wrinkled his nose.

"Hey! Don't knock the girly stuff, it could save your life one day."

They then spent the afternoon practicing the details microwaving, focusing and controlling the energy and the creation of space for a pizza oven where there was none.

The exact details of the blending of scientific and magical theory weren't important, they were essentially the same thing, and it was the visualisation of the concept that allowed the magic to come to fruition.

The skies outside full of low, threatening clouds cleared a little. There would be no rain today.

The next morning was chilly but bright, the sun glinted off the frosted lawn outside of Allie's window. She stared out at it for a while, the line of shadow slowly receding as the sun rose, melting the ice crystals. Today she would be going back to Gran's house again to continue the almost relentless tutelage provided by Chris and on occasion a hired tutor or professor from the … it wasn't unusual for the instate to provide private education, it was part of how they managed to service such a wide geographical area without segregating the magical populace.

Allie was not looking forward to today's lesson specializing in disguise and stealth. It's not that it was something she disliked but that she had enrolled in the formal classes multiple times and had disappointed the professor greatly when she had quit before being graded.

Allie and Max showed up in the backyard classroom, moved to the back deck on account of the frost speckled grass, just as Chris was arriving accompanied by the very same professor whom Allie had upset so greatly.

Today was going to be a long day.

That night Allie left the comfort of her family home after briefly alerting her father to her departure. She walked out into the cold air, heavy with moisture. Perhaps it would rain soon.

At the end of the street she crossed the quiet road and walked into an empty park, at the back, in the shadows she touched her wand and apparated away unseen.

The next road was gravel and dry. In the shadows of the roadside scrub she reached out with her magic, feeling the entire area briefly for signs of life, magical or non, before carefully retracting her touch, leaving no residue or signature. As expected there was no one in sight except for a few cows as Allie started her journey along the softly crunching gravel.

Before long the sound of the ocean calmly lapping at the shore could be heard and a row of small cottages come into view. Most were dark at this time of night, only a few still lit by the occupants. Allie walked on until she got to the last house, the TV inside could be heard from the front gate, its flickering light illuminating the tidy garden.

Allie stepped onto the veranda and paused to breath in the cool air before knocking.

There was scuffling inside and the sound of the TV reduced. There was silence for a moment before the door bust open, bringing Allie's tired face into sharp relief.

"Fancy seeing you here, Rosalie." The old woman smiled at her granddaughter.

Inside the warm little cottage, filled with antique furniture and treasures, Allie sat curled into the sofa with a warm cup of tea. Her grandmother sat in her favourite armchair, silver haired and calm in the wake of the tale Allie had just recounted of the past week. She had left out a few details, simply saying that her boyfriend had reacted badly to be news and they had fought.

"He wasn't meant for you," the older woman spoke gently "especially if he was so unreasonable about everything. You need someone a bit more logical than that."

Allie considered the mildly reproving words at length with the bottom of her tea cup.

"I feel like I'm missing parts of me."

Rain hissed upon the tin roof in a sudden deluge. Like the sky, Allie burst and cried her tears into the dregs of her tea.

* * *

><p>Allie woke the next day in a single bed with neatly pressed and folded floral sheets. The windows to the tiny room let in a cool grey light, the garden outside was blurred by the rain falling steadily against the window.<p>

She lay there for a long time. Watching the rain and enjoying the peace in her mind. This was the place where nothing was wrong, nothing was a mistake that couldn't be undone or fixed in some way. This is where Allie was a child and was required to worry about nothing.

When she could hear movement in the kitchen, she regretfully left behind the soft bed in favour of breakfast.

Allie entered the kitchen just as the kettle on the gas stove started to squeal. The small table was set with two place settings of white china on a clean linen table cloth with a vase of daffodils sat where one side of the table was pressed against the wall.

"Good morning Grandma." Allie spoke softly as the older woman shut off the gas to the screaming kettle.

"Good morning Rosalie, are you feeling a bit better this morning?" her grandma pour water out of the kettle into a lone cup.

"Yes, a lot better actually. Do you have camomile or peppermint tea?"

"In the pantry, left corner." The older woman stated as she fitted a crocheted cosy over the just boiled kettle.

Allie found both kinds of tea and decided that she would probably have two cups of tea this morning, so took one of each before fitting the lids of the containers tightly back in place.

Grandma was seated in her usual seat and she watched as Allie set about preparing her breakfast, placing two slices of bread in the toaster and upon deliberation, placed the peppermint tea bag next the her cup which she then removed from her place setting and filled with chamomile tea.

They sat in silence while Allie's toast cooked, neither wanting to comment on last night where Allie sobbed for hours and was tucked into bed shaking. Four days of intensive education and constant company had compounded the effect of her altercation with her no ex-boyfriend. It's not that she wasn't glad to see the end of it, but that she felt she had been shot full of holes in the violent outburst.

Her toast sprung up with a faint _ting_, as she buttered and liberally applied apricot jam to her toast, Grandma asked:

"What do you fancy doing today Rosalie?"

* * *

><p>Allie was in her room, slowly dropping her possessions into a magically expanded case. Many of her clothing items didn't make it there though, they were tossed unceremoniously into either the bin or a bag destined for donation to charity. She didn't want to leave behind anything she cared about but it was difficult to decide if it would be safer with her or not.<p>

She had spent a day and a half with her Grandma, probably the most amount of time she would be able to for a long time considering her foreseeable future. The effect of spending the time in an isolated location had fortified her. They had sat and played chess and Allie has practised embroidering the corners of napkins under Grandma's direction while the rain had stop-started. When the sun had seen fit to peek between the clouds they went outside and debated on if they should remove the more battered of the daffodils or leave them for another day.

She had cried. Allie cried from sadness and relief at being alone and in comforting arms all at once. She had cried all she thought she could cry and then cried some more. Grandma, who had always called her Rosalie, had made her feel more whole and more like Allie again.

She changed outfits several times, wanting to mix and match the memories she had. In the end she put several things into a box which she didn't want to lose and taped it shut, she would take it to the post office tomorrow.

There was a knock at her door.

"Allie? Dad's here and we made pizza. Do you want some?" Max's voice called through the door.

There was several moments silence before she emerged.

"Are you ok?" Max asked in concern. "You seem grumpy and sad."

"I'll be ok, don't worry." She was touched by his concern but brushed it off.

* * *

><p>"Is everything ok Honey-Bee? I know there's a lot of stuff that's changing but we can't stop it from happening." Sebastian spoke across the table.<p>

"I'll be alright as long as we can fix up Mum's heritage." She smiled at him. "Good thing it's difficult to trace things from the other side of the world even for wizards."

"Ok then," He accepted the partial truth, "you guys made some good pizza last week. But there seemed to be no cheese or tomato left so I had to send Twitch out for more."

Allie and Max exchanged looks briefly.

"Here's to shitty record keeping!" Allie declared raising her glass.

"Here, here!" Max crashed his glass into hers talking over their father's admonishment, "Don't swear, Allie."


	6. Moving day

**Care to let me know how im going? Im curious if anyone actually cares about this**

With a flick of her wand Allie laced up her boots under her well cut full length dress. Another flick and her hair was ensured to not slip out of its complicated up do, a la Aunt Jane. She slipped on a frock coat and exited her room for the last time for who knows how long to join her brother and father by the front door.

They were standing amongst a large number of trunks, or in Max's case, laying across one without a care for the possibility of creasing his clothing.

"Are you ready to go, Honey-Bee?"

"Yes Father." She responded politely, "as ready as I'll ever be." She grinned, dropping the formal tone for a moment.

"The Portkey will depart in one minute, Master's and Mistress." A high pitched voice at knee height informed the small family.

"Thank you Twitch, when you're ready please transport our luggage to our new home." Sebastian spoke kindly to the house elf.

"Yes, of course, Twitch will start right away."

The family moved from the crowded hall to the lounge room where on the coffee table there stood a brass candelabra. Sebastian checked his pocket watch.

"25 seconds, take a hold and remember to bend your knees to land."

Time had gone so quickly yet so slowly. For Allie these seconds went by like the past weeks, too quickly towards the end of their countdown but at the same time so slowly it was agonizing. She had studied, trained and practiced every day in hopes of anything becoming useful, in hopes she wouldn't need to know so much beyond what she was expected to know. She read Hogwarts: A History and the daily papers and compared notes with Chris on countless other texts, she knew what she would know and what she would conveniently pretend to not know. The seconds counted down all too soon. She didn't know enough and probably never would be well practiced enough for the countdown to end. She just had to go.

The Portkey glowed and she was tugged away from any chances to hide.

* * *

><p>Allie landed in a larger marble foyer with a sharp *clack* from the heels of her boots. Max stumbled a little but recovered somewhat gracefully whilst there father didn't appear to even flinch at the sudden shift in location.<p>

"I believe I am to contact someone at the ministry now and say when we will be showing our faces." Sebastian stated with a sigh. "You should go and explore the house."

The teenagers meandered across the foyer while their father strode away. Sebastian, although showing confidence to anyone that asked, was still uncertain about his choice to bring his children with him as he fronted the European operations of The Gate Keepers or 'filled' many company positions on an unidentified ghost ship of a shipping company. The subtle yet wide spread influences he could create would be highly useful for drawing an invisible barrier between those he held dear and those more unsavoury characters.

He quickly drafted a letter to the appropriate officer at the ministry of magic stating: _My family and I have arrived safely. We will be at the Ministry after my children, Rosalie and Maximillian have had time to explore their new home and we have partaken in afternoon tea._

_Yours sincerely_

_Sebastian Brindell_

As soon as the letter was sent Twitch appeared, informing him of the completed transport of all luggage. Delegating the unpacking to the elf who was more than excited to have plenty of work to do, Sebastian took this news as his queue to seal his favourite home with blood wards and to seal his new home against any magical transportation in or out.

* * *

><p>Afternoon tea turned out to be a study in etiquette and a board meeting in one. Plans of attack and correct social mannerisms were revisited and revised much to Max's disgust and Allie's disinterest.<p>

The time to stand and leave felt rather anti-climactic to Allie after just Portkeying halfway around the world in clothing that was ill suited for the arrival destination.

When outside the walls of their new home and standing at the ornate front gate at the end of a short drive, the siblings each took one of their father's arms. With a soft pop the green of the shrubbery surrounding the small manor was whipped away in a breathless moment and replaced with the inside of a designated apparition room, as per arrangement.

Allie pretended not to notice that the room was stationed with Auror's, wands out and on guard. They were scanned and questioned by one burly Auror whom her father spoke to smoothly about mundane things such as the weather in London and the latest Quidditch scores. Allie noticed the mildly horrified expression filtering into Max's features when they exited the room before she noticed _her_.

"Hello, my dears, Welcome to England and the Ministry of Magic." A short, stubby looking woman in an ugly pink cardigan spoke in a sickly sweet voice. "You must be Mr. Brindell." Her voice reached new heights of sugar-coated-vomit as she proffered her hand to their father. Allie could see Max's eyes beginning to bug out. She stepped on his toes without being noticed due to her volumous dress and their close proximity in the narrow hall.

"And your dear children." The toad-like woman turned her sugar-blast of a smile on the siblings who both quietly responded; "It's a pleasure to meet you." In the way they had been taught.

The woman promptly ignored them and proceeded to talk breathlessly to their father who was looking more uncomfortable by the minute. Unfortunately she was to be their 'personal guide' to adjusting to a new country and a new school. It was only at their fathers many suggestions, which became increasingly pushy and rude, that they moved out of the narrow hall and along many other twists and turns into widening walk ways with increasingly more people until they reached an elevator and were ushered inside.

In the small space Dolores Umbridge turned to Allie and grinned a toothy smile.

"You must be Rosalie, dear."

"Yes, however I prefer to be called Allie." The young girl replied in a neutral tone.

"Oh, that's sweet of you to think of me as such a close friend already, Rosalie, but I'm afraid people will become rather confused if you have two names." Dolores smile was creased by a slight frown which disappeared when she looked at Allie's father. "I think the name your parents chose for you will do nicely."

"I didn't think we would reach a point of cultural difference so soon." Sebastian spoke in a mild tone which belied the tightening in his jaw. "It's a social custom in Australia for children to adopt a new name as they grow older. I did notice that the paper work here does not have anywhere to state a preferred name so I attached notes to all forms concerning my children." He stopped short of making accusations but the smile was slowly oozing off Dolores face like a jelly exposed to heat.

At that moment the elevator announced their arrival and the doors sprang open, letting out the uncomfortable occupants.

Umbridge waddled quickly to her office and ushered them inside. Allie and Max spent most of the next half an hour staring at the many pictures of kittens on saucers lining the walls of the office while their father spoke to Umbridge about politics, charities, schooling and of course the direction of the rapid changes the ministry was currently pushing forward.

It became more than apparent to Allie just how dangerous it would become for her family if her true 'blood status' were to be discovered. She began to make a list in her head of the things she needed to do for her little brothers protection and for precaution of her own sanity.

At the top of that list was a secret hideout of some sort, followed by the creation of a transportation charm for Max should he ever need a quick escape and some kind of physical training should he be bested magically. She needed to check on so many social tweaks such as what type of people wore what clothes where or the common greetings used because only so much could be learned from books on etiquette and Aunt Jane's memory.

Sebastian seemed to have gained great favour from Dolores after the tension in the elevator earlier. Mostly it seemed by donating to different charities and projects and sympathizing with woes about 'the way society had gone'.

This may have worked a little too well as Umbridge, who was satisfied that Allie and Max's individual interviews about their lives and heritage consisted of a two minute conversation where they sat, was now profusely insisting that she would accompany them to Diagon Alley to assist in the purchasing of school supplies. Even Sebastian's rather rude decline stating that they would have plenty of time to become familiar with Diagon Alley on their own when he opened his new office there next week couldn't deter the toad-like woman.

So it was that upon leaving the office of one beaming Dolores, Allie and Max would be seeing her again Wednesday one week hence at 10 o'clock.

Exiting the ministry they were overlooked by most but a few did subtly take note of the small family dressed in clothing a little too heavy for the summer weather.

Sebastian steered his children away from the black monument in the atrium and towards the fire places where they were swished away in green flame.

* * *

><p>Max danced around the entrance hall in a crazy jig, waving a piece of parchment in the air.<p>

"I DON'T HAVE THE TRACE ON ME! I DON'T HAVE THE TRACE ON ME!"

His father grinned, the strain of the overly long and pretentious visit to the ministry seeming to melt away. There were certain advantages negotiated in preparation for their immigration and the differing laws on underage magic had played out in his children's favour. They had been dealt a completely new hand of advantages and disadvantages which summed up to a careful game starting from high ground. He watched his son drag his step-daughter into the crazy dance, he hoped they would be smart enough to put this legal loop-hole into good use.

Sebastian hoped, but he knew; his children would always look after each other and that was a small relief in this dangerous world.

The paper in Max's hand fluttered to the ground as the step siblings swung each other around in wild circles. For all the world they could have been full blooded siblings and it wouldn't have made the slightest difference. Max pulled at Allie's arm more sharply, causing her to lose her balance for a moment. As if in slow motion her foot came down on the dropped parchment, skidding across the floor, her eyes went wide and her hand flashed out just in time to mutter a wandless cushioning charm before landing on her bottom with an unladylike humph.

"Are you ok?" Max's eyes were wide with concern for his sister.

"Yeah." She said looking rather deflated. "Just surprised." He offered her his hand to help her up. Set right on her feet again she pushed a smile onto her face, "I think I'm gonna change out of these stupid clothes." For the first time today her Australian accent became pronounced, her words running together in a drawl behind her as she flounced up the stairs.

* * *

><p>In the privacy of her foreign but lavish room Allie fished her wand from her pocket along with a folded piece of parchment. With a flick of her wand her dress undid itself and she was able to step out of it, sending it to her closet on the other side of the room.<p>

She flopped on her bed in her underwear, not caring if her hairstyle was ruined. That Umbridge woman had irritated her to the point of despair, she had acquired and unwanted 'friend' and didn't know if to humour her or tell her to fuck off.

Thoughts of the appropriateness of swear words in the wizarding world crossed her mind. Undoubtedly it was inappropriate to swear around adults but as to the behaviour of the younger generation it was yet to be seen. It possibly didn't matter as much considering her forged yet still impure blood status.

Allie unfolded the piece of parchment still in her hand.

_Rosalie 'Allie' Brindell_

_Blood Status: Half-Blood_

She stared at the words. Those lies that were not lies enough, that strangers would see her in a lower position in her family, unworthy, a blight for a first born. In a way it was good that she wouldn't be so readily sought after as a tradable good. In another way it was bad that people would question the weight of her word, for the person she called Dad, the only father she had ever known, wasn't truly her father.

There were more words on the slip of paper, stating that she would have no trace placed upon her and that she was legally allowed to apparated even though she was not of age. Allie couldn't focus on these other details, the blow she knew was coming was all the more real now.

She was really living and going to be attending school as part of a society with some severe issues and hang ups about class and status. It would be a culture shock, completely and utterly different, archaic. She had grown up in a country, society and culture where there was no class except 'middle class', there was no huge disparity between people, they didn't care what you were, but rather who you were.

The whole concept of 'Blood Status' was still so strange to her.

What if someone thought of her as being of easily exploitable worth? What if they tried to break her father's trust in her because he could disown her with little scandal to the family and the blame be laid on her?

Dammit! Would she even have petty problems like bitchy friends or even no friends at all in that forsaken castle called a school?

Allie growled in frustration, scrunched the parchment in a ball. Threw it at the head of her bed. Threaded her wand through her hair. Stormed to the closet door. Wrenched it open.

Clothes. Jeans, t-shirt, light coat, cash.

Door. Stairs. Twitch.

"Please tell Dad I've gone to take a walk. London. Somewhere."

The gentle pop of her disapparating contrasted the efficient fury in her actions.

* * *

><p>Allie landed at an apparation point near one of the less frequented doors run by her extended family. It was as good a place as any, the apparation point was not just for the use of the door but not so used by other witches and wizards that she would likely run into anyone.<p>

She began walking immediately through the quiet industrial looking area, unwinding her hair and rewinding it into a simple bun and disguising her wand in it as a decorative hair comb. Her clothes were too heavy of the local opinion of the weather even though she felt comfortable. Ducking into an alley way her jeans and t-shirt became a floaty floral dress, her boots became wedge sandals. Summoning a mirror she altered her facial features slightly, giving herself a heart shaped face, brown eyes under arching eyebrows along with glossy brown hair. Finally she glamoured touches of makeup on to her face then tucked the mirror it into an expensive looking purse made from her jacket.

Allie now looked like 'Elizabeth'. Elizabeth is 27 and completely fictitious. She has a lot of money in overseas accounts and moves around the world but mainly stays in Australia in hotels or rents expensive apartments for short periods. She exists because Allie refuses to stay in one place or attend school with any regularity, she even funded her to attend the concert where she met _him_. For that Allie hates her, but she is a tool and tools are to be used. It would be ungrateful to hate what is of most use.

'Elizabeth' hailed a cab and sat in the back gazing blankly out the window the whole trip to the Bank of England. If the driver thought it unusual for such a rich looking girl to be alone in an industrial area he didn't say anything. This incarnation of Elizabeth has an American accent supplied by a clever vocal charm dialing the details down to New York so precisely that a local of the same wouldn't be able to pick the difference.

Allie was silently thankful that she chose to take classes in tailoring and performance magic at the Institute in Australia. In more ways than one the flexible enrollment there had allowed her to lead a life of years of wandering by the age of 16.

The cab fare was most of her small supply of cash.

* * *

><p>Inside the bank Elizabeth set up local accounts and cards and withdrew a sizable amount of money with few questions asked. The cards and cash sat neatly inside of her purse when she left the large building.<p>

Elizabeth became Allie again, almost. The fabric of her dress less expensive, her face rounder and hair lighter. Next on her list was place to live, somewhere inconspicuous, not where Elizabeth would like to live but where she might be seen walking by or visiting a poorer friend. The depth of local knowledge required for this was beyond anything she could research by book.

In any new city the ones with the best knowledge were the ones who sold and rented out the various types of living quarters. So it was that Allie found herself talking to real estate agents all afternoon. She would be visiting a whole list of accommodations tomorrow.


End file.
